The final day of the championship was nail-biting! Race 15a was completed by 1230 in shifting winds but several attempts to sail the other four divisions were abandoned as the Race Committee and sailors waited in 32° heat for the huge swings to give way to the incoming northerly.
By chance Julian was in the same start as the overnight leader Griselda Khng (SIN). His target was to finish in the top nine and two points ahead of his rival. This he did with very little to spare and emerged as champion by just two points. Latin American sentiment was consoled by the well-deserved bronze taken by Edgar Diminich of Ecuador who, at 55kg, contradicted the idea that this was a regatta for lightweights.
Champions of girls' sailing may regret that we do not have a female champion to follow Tina Lutz's 2005 win but it is notable that 7 of the top 21 sailors were female.
An overview of this very successful championship will follow after tonight's prizegiving.
Subject to confirmation the Optimist World Championship is now mathematically a three horse race.
With the second and final discard taken Griselda Khng of Singapore has a two point lead over Julian Autenrieth (GER). Edgar Diminich of Ecuador is still theoretically in contention. Stephanie Zimmermann (PER) and Rufina Tan (MAS) are the only sailors who can dislodge these three from the podium and we could have a record six girls in the top 20.
Three races were sailed today in 10-12 knots with gusts. Current was quite strong towards the end of racing but this did not seem to disturb the leaders, even Julian who is a lake sailor from Bavaria. Fortunately the weather was somewhat cooler than the 30° plus experienced earlier in the week. One race remains to be sailed tomorrow.
Singapore seem set to walk away with the Miami Herald Trophy for the best aggregate score of their top four sailors, all of whom are in the top 20, to add to their team racing gold. The big question is whether they can take all three gold medals.
LADIES' DAY!
Griselda Khng (SIN) is the new leader with scores of 1/8/11 for the three races sailed today in moderate 10-12 knot winds. In general it was a good day for the girls with Stephanie Zimmermann (PER) advancing to 5th with 5/2/10, Haruka Komiya (JPN) in 7th and Rufina Tan (MAS) just waiting to discard her 65th after Race 12. Further down the fleet Rachel Lee (SIN) and Nikki Barnes (ISV) won individual races.
Singapore following their victory in the Team Racing event remain in buoyant mood with four sailors in a top 20 which still includes sailors from twelve nations.
But four races remain to be sailed and all is still to play for.
Day 4
STOP PRESS!
Final Ranking: 1. Singapore 2. Peru 3. Germany
Three races (6-8) were completed today in winds of varying strengths - light in Race 7, 10 -12 knots in the other two.
Best results of the day came from Sacha Pelisson (FRA) with three bullets but almost as good was the 1/6/1 of 2004 South American champion Edgar Diminich of Ecuador who moves into second place. Overnight leader Julian Autenrieth (GER) did not have such a good day, allowing Marcus Hansen (NZL) to move into the lead.
In Race 7 misguided attempts to force a general recall led to 55 OCS decisions but Griselda Khng (SIN) could discard hers to remain as the leading girl in 4th place over-all. Second girl Stephanie Zimmermann (PER) slipped back to 9th and must now watch for the threat of Rufina Tan of Malaysia when the second discard is taken.
The Argentinians showed their relative familiarity with the waters of the River Plate to rank three sailors in the top 20, confirming their earlier qualification in top spot for Thursday's World Team Racing Championship. The seeding for this event is as follows. Peru just scraped into the draw despite several OCSs and the first match, Argentia v Peru, will mirror the final of many recent years.
Seeding, based on the results of the first four sailors of each team in races 1-5:
Heavy winds delayed launching but clearance was given around 13.30 and it is hoped to sail three races.
With five races sailed leaders are beginning to emerge. Julian Autenrieth (GER) did not dominate so completey in the heavier winds but has still opened up a 10 point lead at least until the first discard is taken. By contrast Marcus Hansen (NZL) will be praying for more of the heavy stuff.
Not for the first time the battle for the girls' prize is raising the over-all level of girls' results. Griselda Khng (SIN) has moved into third over-all and Stephanie Zimmermann (PER), already in 6th place, will be another beneficiary of the first discard.
Sixteen countries are represented in the top 20, including at least two from the smaller countries - Ramón Gonzalez of Puerto Rico and Victor Díaz de Leon of Venezuela. Also doing well by the standards of their countries (see the "Best Ever"list) are Virgin Islanders Alec Anderson (IVB) and Alex Coyle (ISV), Eduardo Ariza (DOM) and Ahmed Ragab (EGY).
Day 1
Two races were held on the opening day of the 2006 (yes, really!) Optimist World Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Wind strengths varied between 10 and 12 knots, going lighter towards the end of race 2.
The results themselves were the usual Optimist Class mix of the predictable and the totally unexpected.
Introduction
The last event of 2006 will also be the most international Class event in world sailing.
Fifty countries will be represented by some 230 sailors in the 2006 IODA World Sailing Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay which starts on 29 December.
The championship is a major exercise. All Optimists are supplied (by Rio Tecna in neighbouring Argentina) and all teams, with a maximum of five sailors and three adults, will be accomodated in the Radisson Hotel. The International Jury includes twelve IJs, race management will be supervised by two IROs and measurement by three IMs. Major development work has been undertaken by the host Yacht Club Uruguayo which celebrates its centenary this year and a big team of volunteers will be giving up their Christmas break to ensure a successful event.
The great turnout is a massive increase on the last time, fourteen years ago, that the Worlds were also at Christmas, also in South America (in Mar del Plata, Argentina) when there were just 133 sailors from 29 countries.
Nine of the additional countries were not even members of IODA in 1992, mostly from the Caribbean and other parts of the Americas, These include Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, both Virgin Island groups, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico and Trinidad. Others rarely or never travelled abroad in those days. Of what we then thought of as the ex-communist countries only Croatia was represented: this year Poland, Slovenia and Ukraine are also present. The IODA Asian Championship had only been created two years before and neither China nor Singapore were represented: nor, from Oceania, were Australia, New Zealand or Tahiti. These additional countries may well be among the medals. Slovenia, China, Bermuda, New Zealand, Poland and Trinidad have already won them in the intervening years.
Looking back at 1992 almost 10% of the sailors went on to become Olympians. Most notably this was one of the "Saltonstall years" when the foundations were laid for British Olympic domination. Present were future medallists Ben Ainslie (just four years later!), Chris Draper and Nick Rogers. Also a future medallist was Iker Martinez (ESP). Nine others have already been to the Games and several more are well placed for selection for 2008.
Results in this Class are impossible to forecast and for many the target will be the top 100 or to be the best ever from their country (see www.optiworld.org/bestever.pdf. But no one will ever forget New Year's Day 2007 when they had a chance to represent their country.
Day 6 
Day 5
SINGAPORE HAVE WON THE WORLD TEAM RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 3
1. Argentina
2. Germany
3. Bermuda
4. Ecuador
5. Singapore
6. Sweden
7. Uruguay
8. Brazil
9. France
10. New Zealand
11. U.S.A.
12. Netherlands
13. Japan
14. Italy
15. Puerto Rico
16. Peru
Day 2
Winds were still around 18 knots and the after-effect of the morning's breeze combined to produce a difficult chop.
Unfortunately this led to "bunching" which delayed publication of results.
Predictable were:
Less predictable are:
Oue very welcoming hosts should be pleased with the good start made by their top sailors Alejo Morales and Manfredo Finck.
